Her Majesty Dogmad

No worries, I was wondering if perhaps she'd been a bit harsh with any toileting accidents and that it could have started off the behaviours. With my method, there's no punishment at all, only rewards for doing the right thing and it builds the relationship with the dog!

Had a lovely update with pics from my friends, the girls are doing very well although they are a bit naughty - typical kittens! They've now got new names - Bella and Bonnie :D

I think DOL Member Lilli helps the Anatolians. Do you have any idea where the original breeder was, that might be another avenue.

THere's a black 6 yr old male Cocker Spaniel in Renbury - just arrived. No picture, he's just been surrendered so can be adaopted now. Good with other dogs and children!

As well as the Prozac you do need to have a behavioural modification program in place. I got a dog in Nov last year that had such bad separation anxiety that he would climb trees and scale 6 foot fences when left alone. He'd also land on me the minute I sat down (12 kilos) and scrabble at my legs as I walked along, trying to get my attention. I put him on Prozac and started working on his sep anx issues. I only had him for about 4 weeks and rehomed him - I did not charge anything - to a very sighthound and dog experienced home. The changes I'd witnessed in him were enormous. He would stay in a room alone quite happily and no longer felt so desperate to be in close contact with me. The new owners continued on with the behavioural modification work and he's now completely off Prozac. Whilst they aren't game to leave him completely alone, just in case, he does have other dogs there for company and retired owners so a much better home than mine for his needs overall which is why I didn't need to persist with him with such devoted new owners. They find him to be a joy and he has come such a long way. He was 6 yrs of age. I'm sure with patience and time this GSD will also improve significantly.

Great idea, smear a bit of dirt around it and say your friend didn't need it any more and you don't really want it but they can have it ...

I can provide my housetraining tips which could help until a decision is made on the dog's future: HOUSETRAINING TIPS Ok - first thing to do is decide on the command (I call it “do wees”) you will repeat over and over. You have to really focus on the dog for about 2-3 days to be successful. You have a pocketful of special treats on hand all the time for the first 2-3 days. Walk the dog several times a day and every time the dog wees, you get very excited and keep saying “Good boy/girl, do wees, do wees” – give the dog treats every time. First thing in the morning, last thing at night and every time you see the dog eat or drink (both precursors to weeing) whisk the dog into the garden and repeat the command “do wees”. Get very excited and present treats every time dog goes. The dog’s aim in life is to please you. If the dog should have an accident inside the house – say NOTHING at all. The dog soon gets the idea that when he/she goes outside you are really, really pleased and he/she gets rewarded. NB: Please note that the smell of urine must be properly removed for any housetraining to be successful. There are products on the market such as “Urine Off” but they are very expensive. A mix of white vinegar and water is a much cheaper alternative and should work for tiles and other surfaces although you should always take care with wood etc. For carpet/rugs, I use either a mixture of Napisan/water or bicarb of soda and water. I completely soak the stain using a dab on technique with a cloth. When it is very wet, I use an old towel to soak up the excess moisture. Again, be careful on any expensive carpet/rug, I have never had any problems but I cannot guarantee any method here.

Depends how you live. I've had a truckload of entire male dogs come through my house and it's never been an easy experience - I'm rescuing them and sometimes cannot get them done the first day or two and it's always a stress. I don't want dogs peeing everywhere, I don't want dominance over my other dogs or sexual interest in my females. As for having undesexed males together, I wouldn't do that either, it can lead to fights - but I acknowledge that of course there are exceptions to this. I also never want to have the experience of having to euthanase a beautiful male dog that had a peritoneal hernia that had gone too far - this is mostly found in male dogs of 7+ years who have remained entire. I lived with an entire dog in the UK, my first ever dog, until he developed testicular cancer at around 5 yrs of age and had to be urgently desexed. I wouldn't leave it undone again - unless I was showing a dog of course and that is pretty much guaranteed never to happen.

With the last two older females I rescued from the pound, one had Pyometra and the other had massive cysts on her ovaries that were about to burst. It is a regular experience as I take older dogs. I've known many a dog not to get desexed in time, get pyometra and by the time the owner has noticed, they end up with a big vet bill and sometimes a deceased dog that has suffered unnecessarily. I've also gotten a rescue Shepherd cross just too late - the ovarian cancer that was removed during desexing had spread and killed her after a few months which included a couple more surgeries which tried to save her. It was a needless loss of a dog that I adored. I know that on this forum my opinion is not popular in some quarters however it is based on over 10 years of solid rescue experience. I won't rehome an undesexed dog of any age so that they are not at risk and I won't be changing the way I operate - ever.

That's really appalling and is very similar to the situation with the neighbour I have. The council told me last time - as well as I'm the only person that complains and dogs are too old to attack mine any more (bullsh-t) - they said the fences weren't very good at that house. They said they would give them a fine (dogs had been loose every day for a few weeks) - it sounded reluctant. They should be fined every time the dogs are out in my opinion. I said can't you get them to fix the fences?? Whenever I've taken the dogs back they NEVER walk to any part of the fence, they go straight to the front door because the owners let them out of the front door. They have never walked them in all the years I've known them. One of the dogs was out last weekend ... it's been ongoing for years. These are people who really don't deserve to ever have a dog and I hope they never get another one. They always have working breeds and keep them in the backyard or let them roam. They do walk around the area themselves but never have their dogs with them .... I've spoken to them in years gone by about how to care for working breeds but we're dealing with a Neanderthal and he doesn't give a toss and that's half the problems, too many morons out there.

Oh dear, that is so upsetting to hear about and yet I know it's not uncommon. Why people get dogs and do this to them I will never understand. They need to get her proper shelter and give her a good life, full of activities and love. The problems will keep increasing with time, the more miserable she gets and so on. It can be very hard to convince people to give their dogs up, sometimes the offer of money helps but if they use it to go and get another dog then you'll have another problem happening. Maybe you could suggest that you open up a gate in the fence so that she can pop in and out for a play with your dogs rather than make big holes and potentially injure herself? Say it's keeping your dogs busier and you don't mind having an extra dog, you don't even mind feeding her if they are busy? One day they might realise she's not ever popping back because she's much happier on your side of the fence. If they don't ever interact with her, would they notice all that much? Sometimes it's all about control and power, not love. You'd like to think people would be unselfish when it comes to this sort of thing but they aren't usually.

I'm pretty sure the RSPCA have done inspections.

Disgusting, poor chap, I hope he can make a full recovery and find decent and committed owners who will love him for the rest of his days. As for his former owners, I hope they are found and taken to court, ending with a just punishment, they should at least be banned from every owning a living thing again. I wouldn't give them a plant.

It's actually quite a complex situation. Whenever you have a dog + 1 or + 2 or multiple other dogs, there will always be a chance of something happening - whether it be in a pound, shelter, dog park or your home. In the pounds in Sydney, Hawkesbury does not double up unless 2 dogs came from the same home. Renbury and Blacktown do. There would have to have been deaths in these situations - most dogs are undesexed in pounds, there may be bitches on heat nearby or in the same enclosure even. You may unwittingly put an epileptic stray dog in, pounds have no way of knowing this. I've been in Blacktown and have seen dogs at risk from other enclosure inmates and gone and reported it to the office, asking them to move a particular dog into a different enclosure. Pound staff don't have time to stand and observe all the dogs' behaviour over periods of time, it simply isn't feasible and the pounds don't have enough room for single dog enclosures. Even if you are a person that fosters dogs and have your own dogs, there can be consequences - sometimes fatal for your own or other foster dogs. I've been very lucky so far but have had some issues with incoming dogs that have had to be managed, sometimes by moving them elsewhere to protect my own dogs from overly dominant behaviour etc. My neighbours owned 2 dogs that had been together all their lives and had gotten on well. One day the larger of the two turned around and killed the Chi cross. Unfortunately, it's not straightforward but that's not to say that the issues described in posts above cannot be improved by less overcrowding and much better systems and monitoring of all the dogs. Lack of monitoring the dogs was a significant problem.

Most of it is kept secret. Just before I left there were 2 or 3 deaths - all explained away to me as if it was perfectly reasonable for these things to occur. I was very angry, I didn't find it at all acceptable and said so and it was one of the reasons I left. I'm sure there were far more deaths than I knew about - reading the comments above.

We (at Iggy Rescue) just lost a rescued Italian Greyhound with 2 kinds of cancer. He was diagnosed and given a maximum of 2 months to live. He was found a permanent foster carer and we sent him to the All Natural Vet at Russell Lea. He was given Chinese herbs and a special diet which include offal I believe. His foster carer was devoted and also had small potential skin cancers removed over the last 2 years - yes, he lived for nearly 2 years. Suddenly he went very downhill and the vet did an ultrasound and said his cancer had spread throughout his organs and 2 days later he was gone. I'm sure he wouldn't have had those extra months if not for the Chinese herbs and diet. he was only 9 years old.

I have but it needs to be changed as I discovered the person I was entrusting their care to is not a good person. I would provide a large amount of money with each dog and hope that my good, dog loving friends might be able to take them on. They all have their favourites!

Yes, my council is the same. I keep reporting the same 2 dogs that an a--hole neighbour lets out. I did an affidavit a few years ago when they attacked my dogs, I couldn't get away fast enough. Nothing was done as my dogs didn't need vet treatment, I nearly had a heart attack. Recently I called the council again and they said "well you are the only one complaining, they are old dogs now" - WTF?? Why is it OK for 2 large breed dogs to roam, crossing roads and entering other people's properties? I've opened my front door to walk my dogs to find them standing there ... I don't honestly believe - and will not risk it - that they would be OK with my dogs. They are not that old.

Can you send this info to the Club??

It was my belief which I expressed regularly and vehemently that any dog that killed another, should be euthanased and not rehomed as it posed a risk to other dogs. I don't believe anyone would want to adopt a dog that had done this and don't imagine that this fact is disclosed.

I have had the same issue for a couple of years, spoken to the owners - they have laughed at me. It's a small dog. I've warned them that my dogs wouldn't hurt her but one day she'll approach a larger dog on a long lead, with her teeth bared and one bite and she'll be gone. Haven't bothered to tell council - they aren't very good at dealing with this sort of thing. Since I spoke to them the last time, I haven't seen the dog out in the mornings, she's still there as she barks through the fence when we go by but I hope they've seen sense - they used to leave the gate open and she also used to cross the road which can be busy, they didn't give a crap. In the case the OP describes, it is entirely the owners' fault. They already knew there was a problem and yet chose to make it even worse by breeding from an aggressive dog. Unbelievable. I really hope that the authorities throw the book at them and euthanase the dogs for they are dangerous, no question.

There were a few instances that involved the same bitch (corgi x) and she was not kept on her own until the third fight and third dead dog. After that, all the dogs involved in a fatal fight were separated from others for a number of days and then slowly introduced back into pairs (usually male/female with one clearly the 'boss'). Was she adopted out or PTS? (assuming she was the instigator in pack fights) I can assure you that she would not have been put to sleep. She may well be out there in the community, I don't know the dog.

Yes, my dog also had two different sized pupils which the vet said was an indication of neurological issues. So sorry you are having to go through all this, it really is so upsetting.

I took a long termer from kennels last year. In 18 months there had not been 1 enquiry on this dog. Within a few days I'd housetrained him, I changed his name and took a new photo. I uploaded him onto Petrescue after a couple of weeks of getting to know him. I was able to write a good and truthful piece about his nature and what sort of home he wanted. For the next month I averaged 3 enquiries a week - he was aged 7. He then found his perfect home in the 6th week. The picture is really important as is housetraining and letting people know whether the dog is good on a lead, good in a car, good with other animals and children. Best to be honest about storm phobia, digging and so on as well but make it balanced and shine the light on their good points!

Yes, all the events that went on and what the inmates had to endure used to keep me awake at night. It still worries me now, several years later.